The two immortal venerables eyed the ant and sighed.

"I thought it was something scary," wiping the droplets of cold sweat on his forehead, he continued. "It turns out it was just an ant."

"Nearly managed to scare this old man," Huo Great Emperor added to the Sword Immortal words.

"Hahahaha..." Yi Ma, the ant, laughed madly, "such disrespect for your senior, good, let's how I will handle you later." Yi Ma tapped one of his legs on the bull, and it stopped. "This seat is here to relay a message," the atmosphere turned serious and chilly, making the two immortals view the ant in a new light.

"Your pesky annoyance caught the eye of the noble miss. Disrespect to the master's abode means death, but luckily for you, the noble miss is magnanimous enough to let you off with a warning," with that said, Yi Ma observed the two immortals with anticipation.

What is this all about? Can an ant cultivate? Do they even have meridians and dantians? Huo Great Emperor was the first to question the odd situation. From what he knew, for beasts to cultivate, they had to have a specific body size for the dantian to be big enough to store qi, a size requirement that the ant before him didn't qualify for, so the situation was interesting to him.

As Huo Emperor analyzed the ant, the Sword Immortal appraised the bull that the ant used as a mount, he had disregarded the ant as something beneath him, and he didn't need to pay attention to it. His gaze was fixated on the raging bull, he tried to appraise its cultivation to no avail, but something about the bull's aura scared him.

"Beware, your decision today will not only affect you, but the whole cultivation world," Yi Ma's voice resounded, awakening the two immortals from their stupor.

What will you do if we don't go? Huo Emperor sneered. As far as he could tell, their efforts proved to be working; hence the creatures inside the forbidden land desperately sent the ant to intimidate them.

Trying to be mysterious to scare this old man? Wishful thinking, The Sword Immortal also found the situation to be ridiculous.

If an ant can cultivate, then the treasures inside must be heaven-defying. I must get my hands on them, Huo Great Emperor thought as a creepy smile formed on his old face. Yi Ma's presence further solidified their resolve to get inside the forbidden land. After all, if a treasure that could allow an ant to cultivate, what could it do to them?

As expected of mortals, their greed prevents them from analyzing the matters at hand. I guess a lesson is in order. Yi Ma sighed as he thought of the future.

"Little cow, let's head back," Yi Ma barked at the cow as he tapped one of his feet on its head.

The bull turned back and headed for the forbidden land. Despite the massive balls it had, it didn't dare retort on being called a cow. If the senior called it a cow, then it was the best cow in the whole world.

"Huo, what do you think? Should we stop?" After Yi Ma departed, the Sword Immoral asked.

"Humph, it is just a tactic to scare us away. If you don't have the galls, then you can scram," Huo emperor said to the Sword Immortal.

"What about the Lord of the forbidden land?" The Sword Immortal ignored Huo Emperor's lack of saving face and continued to ask. From what he had heard. A Lord of a forbidden land is a formidable opponent with cultivation that rivaled theirs.

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Heaving a sigh, "When did this forbidden land appear?" Huo Emperor asked, not giving the Sword Immortal time to answer, he said. "Five years ago," Huo Emperor raised his five fingers to the Sword Immortal and continued. "Do you think five years is enough for an Emperor to be born?"

The Sword Immortal nodded at Huo Emperor's analysis. Indeed, an Emperor could not have been born. Not even five thousand years were enough. Thinking of this, the Sword Immortal no longer had qualms about invading the forbidden land.

"At most, it will only be new immortals that we can squash at our convenience," Huo Emperor added.

The two then exchanged looks and nodded. They each mobilized their qi and continued to attack the forbidden land barrier.

*Boom!*

*Boom!*

*Boom!*

The two immortals attacked three consecutive times before something spectacular happened, cultivators who were going about their businesses to search for treasures here and there suddenly halted, the scene was spectacular to any onlooker as the cultivators stopped at the same time almost as if they received a signal at the same time.

"What the hell? Why is the will in distress?" One cultivator got out of his stupor and said out loud. They had all received warnings from the world's will, and that only meant one thing.

"N-Not good, a disaster that the world can't handle is upon us," a knowledgeable cultivator said with a trembling voice.

"Fellow Daoist, what do you mean? Can you explain it to us?" A young cultivator stepped forward and asked what everyone present needed to know. The unease he felt in his heart was too uncomfortable to ignore.

*Sigh*

"Youngsters these days don't pay attention to their ancestors' teachings," the old man said and looked at the youngster with pity. " Well, I can as well give you a few pointers seeing the world is at risk," the old man's gaze scanned across everyone present, and they all gathered before him."

"Before you younglings were born," the old man started narrating as he adopted a distant look. "An evil cultivator filled with endless resentment was born unto the world. From his birth, he was a murderer, killing his mother during childbirth—his father, filled with sadness for the passing of his most beloved. Disowned him," the old man looked at the gaping cultivators and continued.

"The little villain regretted killing his mother and hated his father for disowning him for something he had no control over. So with an unbreakable will, he broke his attachments to the mortal world and cultivated the Dao of slaughter."

"He swore never to allow anyone else to suffer his fate by becoming strong and erasing everything. As he grew stronger, the world warned of the upcoming doom, but cultivators ignored it. It was not until the villain achieved the peak of cultivation that cultivators started to note the diminishing number of cultivators. The young man had been busy, slaughtering everything in his path."

"He would have achieved his goal, but alas, no one man can contend against the world. The remaining cultivators allied and hunted him to death. It was then that your ancestors decided to pass the teaching to the future generation. NEVER ignore the call of the world."

The old man finished his tale and looked at the shocked crowd as it should be, he thought.

"Senior, does that mean an evil cultivator is running amok?" One youngster asked.

"Even I, I'm unaware of the issue, I can only hope the gods will be able to overcome this disaster," the old man sighed as the crowd engaged in a heated debate.

I should visit that old man and see if he has any lead. Hopefully, this time the situation won't be like last time. The old man disappeared under the eyes of the youths, his destination unknown.

****

Far away, an old man with a thin stature looked up at the dark clouds with his ancient gaze, "a storm is brewing on the horizon. Will we be able to survive it?" The old man muttered to himself. If Dong Li was still alive, he would recognize him as the seer he greatly revered.

Just as the old man turned to enter the cave behind him, a voice stopped him in his tracks.

"Stop for this old man," the voice said.

The old seer turned and eyed the old man with a smile on his face. The old man was surprisingly the storyteller from before.

"Old Kong, I knew you would visit me today. What I didn't expect was for it to be in this situation," the old seer then waved his sleeve, and the scenery changed, trees surrounded the two old men, and a table and two seats stood next to a calm river.

"I know what you want us to discuss. Why don't we talk about it over tea?" The old seer pointed at the table, and old Kong followed and took a seat.